A couple of important economic reports – Construction Spending and Pending Home Sales Index – both indicate improvement from previous months. I’ll post more particulars as they are released, but improvement in these sectors is welcomed, especially in the relation to construction and and real estate related jobs.

Mike: I sometimes shake my head in amazement at the tone of the Obama administration with regards to businesses and the uber-wealthy. While it’s all tone so far and little substance, it’s at least somewhat refreshing to see the corporate titans squirm in their seats from having to play and pay, instead of just playing and then sending themselves and their profits to the Caymans. The indignity of it all – corporations may be required have to pay their fair share of taxes, just like the citizen taxpayer!

– Administration officials depicted the move as a way to close unfair tax loopholes that encouraged companies to send jobs overseas. They argued that if it costs the same amount to do business in, say, Ireland as in Iowa, why not do it entirely in Des Moines? Officials said Obama would characterize the move as a way to keep jobs in the United States and fight a system that is rigged against U.S. companies who keep their entire business operation domestic.

Obama also planned to ask Congress to crack down on tax havens and implement a major shift in the way courts view guilt. Under Obama’s proposal, Americans would have to prove they were not breaking U.S. tax laws by sending money to banks that don’t cooperate with tax officials. It essentially would reverse the long-held assumption of innocence in U.S. courts.

Developer IntuApps is preparing (hoping?) for the approval of a Swine Flu Tracker app for iPhone and iPod touch, a tool that will enable every handset owner on the planet to successfully zig-zag through the hotbeds of the infection. The app will be distributed free of charge, following its approval in the App Store.

– In remarks setting the scene for another alert increase, but without saying when, WHO chief Margaret Chan warned against over-confidence following a stabilization in the number of new cases of the H1N1 strain that has proved deadly in Mexico.

“Level 6 does not mean, in any way, that we are facing the end of the world. It is important to make this clear because (otherwise) when we announce level 6 it will cause an unnecessary panic,” she told Spanish newspaper El Pais.

– Perhaps more than any other U.S. high-technology company, IBM Corp. has been subjected to intense media scrutiny in the aftermath of a string of recent under-the-radar layoffs. Much of that unwanted attention is a direct result of union activism that has taken on a decidedly “we’re mad as hell and we’re-not going to take it anymore” tone. Following an IBM shareholder meeting last week, fighting words like “greed” were being lobbed like hand grenades.

– May 4 (Bloomberg) — Spending on U.S. construction projects unexpectedly rose in March for the first time in six months as increases in commercial and government projects overshadowed an ongoing drop in home building.

The 0.3 percent gain followed a revised 1 percent drop the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The advance in non-residential projects was led by building of power plants, hotels and factories.

– Pending home sales rose in March for the second consecutive month and are up year over year. The Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors showed a 3.2% gain to 84.6 from February, when it was 82. The index stands 1.6% higher than a year ago.

The consensus forecast of industry experts polled by Briefing.com had predicted no increase in the index.

– May 4 (Bloomberg) — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett lambasted bankers, insurers and regulators for being blind to the possibility home prices could fall, and said their shortcomings caused the worst recession in half a century.

Buffett and Vice Chairman Charles Munger said Wall Street sold subprime mortgage “sewage,” blamed the media and regulators for missing the danger and said the government stress tests of financial firms won’t advance Berkshire’s understanding of the stocks the company owns. Buffett hosted a record 35,000 people at the Omaha, Nebraska-based firm’s annual meeting May 2 and spoke at a news conference yesterday.

– San Jose City Manager Debra Figone’s proposal Thursday to close a $77.5 million budget deficit would lay off as many as 149 employees, close libraries nearly half the week, eliminate the police mounted patrol and reduce traffic enforcement.

– “Overall, we’re looking at cutting $17.8 million out of a budget and that budget is 90 percent salaries,” said Steve Martin, a Durham School Board Member. “What the Superintendent has proposed is cutting 377 positions total.”

Mike: I am seeing the trend of the story below happening more and more as companies realize that business is not going to get better quickly. Many of those who were told that they would return are now faced with the ugly realization that their good paying jobs are not permanently gone.

–Wabash National Corp. has told nearly 800 workers who were laid off over the winter that it does not expect to recall them.

The Lafayette-based truck-trailer manufacturer notified the Indiana Department of Workforce Development of the decision on Friday, saying the decision was prompted by declining demand projections for new trailers.

– River Ranch Fresh Foods expects to lay off 210 employees and end harvest operations at its Abbott Street facility in Salinas on or about June 1, the company said in a notice to the Monterey County Workforce Investment Board.

-Auto and home insurer Mercury General Corp (MCY.N) posted an 18 percent drop in first-quarter operating profit, hurt by lower net premiums earned, but beat market estimates, and said it cut 360 jobs in the quarter.

– KNOXVILLE — Atlantic Southeast Airlines is laying off 30 people at Tri-Cities Regional Airport effective June 23 after losing a bid to continue handling ground operations for Delta Airlines there, however, there is a chance many of them will get to work for the new contractor, Mesaba Airlines, an Atlantic spokeswoman said today.

– Cut and consolidate seems to be the favorite tactic of b2b publishers trying to weather the most severe downturn many of these companies have ever seen. IDG Communications confirmed to minonline that it is making substantial reductions in its overall workforce and combining formerly independent units into a single company. CIO, ComputerWorld, InfoWorld, Network World, CSO, IT World and Industry Standard now will be combined into a single business based in Framingham, Mass.

– Making the budget the right size means we have to reduce expenditures,â€ YMEâ€ˆSchool Board Chair Elmo Volstad said in a serious, earnest tone as he called for resolutions eliminating 14 teaching positions at the YME board meeting Monday evening.

– Sierra Pacific Industries closed its small log mill in the Plumas County town of Quincy, putting 150 people out of work. A big hit for a community of 5,000. The last thing a small community needs in this economic climate and loss of those paychecks is only the beginning of the impact.

– Today, Pathway eliminated 39 jobs, or about 19 percent of its workforce, leaving it with a staff of about 170, according to CEO Paul Buckman. The company made the cutbacks because it had to settle for $42.3 million in its latest round of venture capital—not the $55 million it was shooting for. That meant it was on pace to run out of cash by the end of 2010, before it expects to turn profitable in the first half of 2011.

– Staff at Covalon has been reduced from 41 individuals to a complement of 28. The Company estimates annual financial savings of almost $900,000 in direct costs. The Company estimates related severance costs to be $95,000.

– FAIRFIELD TWP. – For the first time in more than a dozen years, Butler Tech plans to lay off teachers in anticipation of $1.3 million in state funding freezes, lower local tax revenue and a drop in enrollment

– Harman Technology, the Mobberley-based company formed in 2004 to buy the Ilford Imaging photographic paper business from the receivers, has entered into consultation with its workers which could lead to nearly a quarter of the workforce losing their jobs.

-A labor dispute at the Hanita metal factory came to a close yesterday, after the Histadrut labor federation and the factory’s union signed an agreement with management under which 27 employees will be laid off.

– LANDER, Wyo. – Seventy-five new jobs are coming to Lander, with the opening of Safeway’s “Lifestyle” store. The company broke ground last month on the nearly 45,000-square-foot store in Lander’s new business park. Store owners say at least that many new employees will be added to the already 30 employees manning Lander’s current store. News of the store’s groundbreaking was released by the Wyoming Business Report.

– DALLAS –– The Regus Group , the world’s largest provider of fully furnished and equipped offices with 1,000 locations in 75 countries, today announced that it is hiring 50 new positions for its corporate office located at 15305 Dallas Parkway, suite 300 in Addison.

-Shacknews noticed that over on Gearbox’s website, the company is recruiting for “all projects,” and furthermore, the Alien project was listed at time of press as “in-development” (currently it lists development as “TBA,” having updated that specific page on the website as of today).

– Company officials will be taking applications from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6 and at the same time on Thursday, May 7 at the New Hartford Shopping Center, said Bill Bender, general manager of the Save-A-Lot store there.

– Government jobs may be aplenty and growing. Some estimates range from 250,000 to 600,000 new jobs, primarily due to the stimulus bill and changing government priorities, says Stewart Liff, author of Managing Your Government Career, who also suspects those numbers are too high.